The present invention relates generally to apparatus for externally mounting objects, such as weapons, on an aircraft and, in a representatively illustrated embodiment thereof, more particularly provides a specially designed object mounting system externally securable to the underside of an aircraft such as a helicopter and useable to support various types of objects in horizontally outwardly spaced relationships with opposite vertical sides of the aircraft.
Previously utilized techniques for externally mounting weaponry on aircraft, such as machine guns, rocket launchers and the like, particularly in retrofit applications, has heretofore carried with it a variety of structural, operational and other limitations and disadvantages. As an example, the external mounting of machine guns on a helicopter has previously entailed securing outwardly projecting metal tubes to the opposite sides of the helicopter, with inner end portions of the tubes extending through side openings in the helicopter body and being telescoped into larger support tubes horizontally anchored within the helicopter cabin area.
Due to unavoidable limberness in the support tubes, this weaponry support technique often led to firing inaccuracies in the mounted guns due to undesirable movement of their firing axes relative to the aircraft. Moreover, this weaponry mounting technique tended to undesirably take up an appreciable amount of space within the aircraft cabin. Further, this previously utilized weaponry support structure added considerable weight to the aircraft—a particularly undesirable characteristic in instances in which the guns are to be mounted on relatively light weight helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.
To a great extent these problems have been eliminated by using the light weight honeycombed metal support plank structure illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,138 to Sanderson et al. This plank or beam structure is transversely insertable through the cabin portion of the aircraft in a manner such that a longitudinally central portion of the support plank is disposed within the cabin area, and outer end portions of the plank project outwardly from opposite sides of the body of the aircraft. The central plank portion within the cabin area is removably secured to a cabin floor area of the aircraft (which may be a helicopter or a fixed wing aircraft). Various weaponry, such as machine guns, rocket launchers, missiles and the like (as well as a variety of non-weaponry objects) may be mounted to the outwardly projecting end portions of the plank structure.
Although this support plank-based aircraft object mounting system has proven to be quite well suited for its intended purpose, and structurally superior to metal tube-type weaponry support systems, it does occupy an appreciable amount of aircraft cabin floor space which could be used for other purposes. A need thus exists for an improved aircraft object mounting system that maintains the benefits of this plank-based system but substantially reduces the intrusion of the mounting system into the aircraft cabin area. It is to this need that the present invention is primarily directed.